Today, at a college fair, I discovered Richmond University in London - it’s still an American college, but it is located right in the UK. After doing a bit of research, I discovered the American University of Paris. As someone who plans on majoring in international relations/politics/etc., the thought of attending an university in another country is incredibly appealing, particularly one that is still American, so it’s not completely foreign. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this type of college? What the costs are like, what the standard of living is like, what the opportunities are like, etc.
Even if it’s not American, if anyone has experience attending college outside of the US, NOT with a study abroad program but genuinely attending a college of a different country, that would also be immensely helpful and I would love to hear your story and opinion.
And finally, what’s peoples’ experience for study abroad? Why would you recommend it over studying directly in those countries? How much did it cost, what college did you study through, what was your experience like, where did you travel, etc.
Thank you immensely!
First thing that comes to mind is that if you have a career in “International Relations” for the US gov’t, many gov’t organizations are going to require that you have a degree from a US university. Some, not all, organizations really do require that you have a US point of view - which you won’t get if you study at the Sorbonne or the Universita degli Studi di Firenze.
That being said, obtaining a degree from a European university is as educationally sound as one from a US university. In your chosen field, a degree from a prominent European university in IR could be quite helpful. It will also be a uniqe experience and you will learn tons outside of the classroom that you would likely otherwise not learn.
As far a study abroad - International Relations was always a huge interest for me and I knew it would be feathers in my cap if I picked up a few foreign languages - and I did. It is absolutely worth it. I did it independently. I saved huge amounts of money and, based on my intereactions with US students on study abroad programs (via their universities or study abroad companies), I would say my experience was more effective and more educational (and a heck of a lot cheaper).
More effective because I integrated with international students. Result - I spoke way more German (in Germany) and Spanish (in Spain) that did US students on study abroad programs. They spent most of their time with other US students while I was with international students, and we tended to speak the local language together way more than US students that stuck together.
More educational - because I was not only exposed to international and local students, I also integrated with them. So, not only did we speak the local language more often (and not English) but we also interacted and learned more about our respective cultures.
http://www.studyabroadinspain.com/ is the best site I have seen for the types of programs I have done in Europe. Check out a few pages and you will see what types of progams exist.
For Germany, check out https://www.daad.org/en/
And http://www.cheapstudyabroad.org/ for some programs in France and Italy.
Super cheap - if you enroll directly into these programs. Awesome peoeple, great learning experience.
In my case, I studied at the University of Salamanca (Spain), the Universita Italiana per Stranieri di Siena (Italy), and the University of Freiburg.
Like I said, if you enroll directly it’s dirt cheap, so you can do multiple programs without breaking the bank.
Hope this helps and good luck!